Paul urges the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord instead of their human flesh. They don’t need
to strive for human good to worship God. They already possess the Spirit of Jesus who
enables them to worship God. Paul’s a prime example that human good leads to
unrighteousness: he was a Jew of Jews, the #1 Pharisee who kept the righteousness of God’s
Law/Word perfectly but it led him to persecute the Church [his life was actually death]. Thus
he willingly gave it all up so that he could completely identify with Christ and His
righteousness. He wanted to personally know Jesus and His power to resurrect the walking
dead. With every ounce of his being he wanted to lay hold of the resurrection life found in
Jesus. Paul knew that he hadn’t laid hold of it completely. But he didn’t let his past stop him;
he wanted to grab what Christ had for him, the resurrection life that God had called him to in
His Son. Therefore, the Philippians need to follow Paul’s example and others who so walk;
they must strive to live the resurrection life, to have the same selfless mind of Christ. Because
there are many who walk contrary to this; they are utterly selfish; all they care about is their
belly and earthly things. But the Philippians must remember that their identity is rooted in
heaven and one day their Lord will return to make their resurrection life permanent; He’ll
transform their lowly human body into a glorious body like His. Therefore, they must live their
resurrection life firmly rooted in the Lord.